Monday, April 29, 2013

FIR Cut: Developing global consensus for the PR profession

Dilbert, Nov 30, 2012

Discussion references:

Download the file here (MP3, 5.39Mb; length 11:16), or sign up for the RSS feed to get this cut segment and all future ones automatically.

Posted by neville on 04/29 at 12:45 AM
FIR Cuts • Show Notes • (1) Comments • Permalink

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #701: April 29, 2013

Intro: No Shel live this week (we have contributions), Stephen Waddington joins Neville in a guest segment; Bob LeDrew’s FIR Book Review of Peter Shankman’s Nice Companies Finish First is up, review coming soon from Eric Schwartzman of Brian Solis’ What’s the Future of Business?; FIR Interview with Eric Wahlforss, co-founder and CTO of SoundCloud, coming on April 30; The B2B Huddle is on May 2 and keynote speeches will be FIR podcasts;

Quick News: Can communicators convey company messages via fiction?, fake Twitter followers and a dirty marketing secret, new examples of smart use of QR codes; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: Concise report on the Socialbakers Engage 2013 conference and FT Digital Media Conference 2013, both in London; Dan York’s report includes a reply to Norbert Mayer-Whittmann re domain names, changing categories in Google+ Communities, Google+ mobile app usage, FCC request for comments about changing US phone numbers to no longer be connected to geographies; Neville with Stephen Waddington on the Associated Press’ Twitter account hack and the implications for trust and security, should British politicians take notes from Barack Obama’s campaign team?, and Stephen’s perspectives on the international challenges for the PR profession; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; Michael Netzley reports from Singapore on Gengo’s crowd-sourced translation services in Japan and a new McKinsey report on Indonesia’s consumers; listener comments and FIR Google+ Community round-up;

Music from Mother Redcap; and more.

Get FIR:

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report for April 29, 2013: A 90-minute podcast recorded live from Wokingham, Berkshire, England.


Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

FIR online communities

Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+.

You can also email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday May 6…

Posted by neville on 04/29 at 12:31 AM
Hobson and Holtz • Show Notes • (0) Comments • Permalink

Thursday, April 25, 2013

FIR Book Review: Nice Companies Finish First, by Peter Shankman with Karen Kelly

Nice Companies Finish First: Book CoverPeter Shankman applied his skills as a communicator and businessman to create Help A Reporter Out (HARO), an email service that connected journalists looking for people to interview with individuals with the experience or insights to meet the journalist’s needs. The free service was based on sharing and collaboration, principles Shankman brings to the fore in his new book.

What does a “nice” company do? In a Forbes interview, Shankman recounted this experience: “I was in a hotel and came back after a long day of meetings. I saw a note on my bathroom counter: Mr. Shankman, we noticed you left your toothpaste out. It’s running very low. We took the liberty of buying you a new tube. We know how busy you are. I was shocked. I took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook. I found out two days later from the PR person that they could trace back at least two reservations that came from that story. The toothpaste probably cost 39 cents or less, because they buy it in bulk.”

In this FIR podcast episode, Book Review Editor Bob LeDrew reviews Nice Companies Finish First.

Get this podcast:

Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management is Over—and Collaboration is In, by Peter Shankman with Karen Kelly.

Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Ebook and paperback (256 pages) editions
Published in the US: April 2013
ISBN10: 0230341896
ISBN-13: 978-0230341890

Purchase the book online at:

FIR online communities

Share your comments or questions about this review, or suggestions for future reviews, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+.

You can also email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, subscribe to the full RSS feed.

This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by shel on 04/25 at 09:02 AM
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

FIR Interview: Professional insights with Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz

FIR co-hosts (l to r) Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz pictured in Concord, California, on March 4, 2006.On April 22, 2013, Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz published the 700th episode of The Hobson and Holtz Report, the weekly business podcast covering the intersection of business, communication and technology that the pair started in January 2005.

To mark the milestone episode Canadian podcaster, FIR friend and long-time listener Donna Papacosta interviewed Shel and Neville a few days before the 700th episode.

The idea for such an interview originated in the Google+ FIR Community when Max Christian Hansen posted a call to action by FIR listeners to "help create FIR 700" and post questions for Shel and Neville.

As Max noted in his post:

Recently, some of us in the FIR community were delighted to learn a little bit about our Asia correspondent +Michael Netzley. When he talked with +Dan York, we heard some history of his professional and personal interests. It’s occurred to some of us that we’d like gain similar insight into our hosts.

The result of that call to action is this interview in which the FIR co-hosts answer listeners’ questions on topics that include what’s allowed each of them to stay dedicated to FIR over the years, their proudest moments from 700 episodes, how hosting FIR has led to business opportunities, which episode they would archive for historical posterity, and more.

A short clip from the interview was included in FIR #700.

Our thanks to Max for suggesting the idea, to our listeners who responded to the call with their questions, and to Donna for her consummate professionalism in interviewing us.

Get this podcast:

FIR online communities
Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+. You can also email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, subscribe to the full RSS feed.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

Posted by neville on 04/23 at 12:01 AM
Interviews • Show Notes • (1) Comments • Permalink

Monday, April 22, 2013

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #700: April 22, 2013

Intro: Donna’s FIR Interview with Shel and Neville coming, Google Voice call-in line notifications, one week until Viral Video Summit, The B2B Huddle on May 2 and keynote speeches will be FIR podcasts;

Quick News: UK PR agencies investigated for use of unpaid interns, free career advice for Millennials that’s worth a fortune from Todd Defren and Steve Earl, Quantas gives up on Twitter for PR purposes, the top 100 banks on social media; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: Donna Papacosta’s interview with Neville and Shel: a clip from the 50-minute interview (to be published on April 23); Michael Netzley reports from Singapore with news from Asia and a China e-tail report from McKinsey; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener comments; copyright and online content licensing: Meltwater and PRCA win UK legal judgement as Supreme Court refers case to European Court of Justice; Dan York reports with musings on 700 shows, loving the trend of posting photos in the G+ community, G+ comments to Blogger, WordPress security, SIPNO; the Boston Marathon Bombing and the debate over business social media;

Shel’s in New Orleans during FIR 701 next week: Neville will be joined for a show segment by Stephen Waddington; music from Cruisebox; and more.

Get FIR:

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report for April 22, 2013: An 101-minute podcast recorded live from Concord, California, USA, and Wokingham, Berkshire, England.


Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

FIR online communities

Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+.

You can also email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday April 29…

Posted by neville on 04/22 at 05:31 AM
Hobson and Holtz • Show Notes • (0) Comments • Permalink

Monday, April 15, 2013

The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #699: April 15, 2013

Intro: Donna Papacosta’s call for questions for her upcoming interview of Shel and Neville for episode 700; FIR Book Club podcast with Andrea Weckerle is up; review of Brian Solis’ new book "What’s the Future of Business?" coming soon from Eric Schwartzman, and an interview with Brian Solis is in planning; Neville speaking at ‘The next stage of social media’ panel at Socialbakers Engage 2013 in London on April 23, and covering the FT Digital Media Conference in London on April 25-26 for Social Media Today; Shel moderating panel at Viral Video Summit in San Francisco on April 26; the B2B Huddle take place at Oracle UK on May 2, with keynotes to come as FIR podcasts;

Quick News: How secure is your WordPress site against hacker attacks?, SEC/social media update, 8 reasons why you need to establish yourself as an authority on Google+, Digg surveys Google Reader users; Ragan promo;

News That Fits: New social media case studies: the good, the bad and the ugly of Caribou Coffee and Duane Reade; Michael Netzley’s Asia report coming as an FIR Cut; Dan York reports from  Beijing on ICANN46, and more; free speech and censorship: the BBC’s tough choice on the Wizard of Oz ‘Ding Dong’ song and Margaret Thatcher; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener comments; social data, social business boosting role of CMOs; survey finds social media hurts friendships;

Music from Belladonna; and more.

Get FIR:

Messages from our sponsors: FIR is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years, www.ragan.com; Save time with the CustomScoop online clipping service: sign up for your free two-week trial, at www.customscoop.com/fir.

For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report for April 15, 2013: An 84-minute podcast recorded live from Wokingham, Berkshire, England, and Concord, California, USA.


Links to websites, blog posts and other content we discuss in the show are posted as Delicious bookmarks to facilitate your connection with the discussions and sharing of that content.

FIR online communities

Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the online FIR communities on Facebook, Friendfeed and Google+.

You can also email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: @FIRpodcast. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

So, until Monday April 22…

Posted by neville on 04/15 at 12:31 AM
Hobson and Holtz • Show Notes • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Share your questions for Donna Papacosta’s interview with Neville and Shel on FIR 700

We have something special in store as part of the milestone 700th episode of For Immediate Release, the first and longest-running communications-focused podcast. Donna Papacosta—a regular contributor to FIR and a skilled podcaster in her own right—will interview co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz on their own backgrounds. Here’s Donna explaining the whole idea:

As Donna notes, you can participate by letting her know what questions you’d like her to ask. Post your questions to the FIR community on Google+. You can also post questions to the this blog post or send them by email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). However you send them, Donna will add them to the mix. Please have your questions to us by April 19, since Donna will conduct the interview on the morning of the 20th.

Thanks to longtime listener Max Christian Hansen for the idea. According to Max, he was inspired by the conversation correspondents Michael Netzley and Dan York had in episode 697. “We heard some history of his professional and personal interests,” Max writes. “It’s occurred to some of us that we’d like gain similar insight into our hosts.”

Episode 700 on April 22 will also include our usual collection of timely news items and discussions of trending themes in communications, business and technology.

Posted by shel on 04/10 at 10:44 AM
News • (0) Comments • Permalink

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